Sam Cooke | Biography & History | AllMusic google+ Artist Biography by Bruce Eder Sam Cooke was the most important soul singer in history -- he was also the inventor of soul music, and its most popular and beloved performer in both the black and white communities. Equally important, he was among the first modern black performers and composers to attend to the business side of the music business, and founded both a record label and a publishing company as an extension of his careers as a singer and composer. Yet, those business interests didn't prevent him from being engaged in topical issues, including the struggle over civil rights, the pitch and intensity of which followed an arc that paralleled Cooke 's emergence as a star -- his own career bridged gaps between black and white audiences that few had tried to surmount, much less succeeded at doing, and also between generations; where Chuck Berry or Little Richard brought black and white teenagers together, James Brown sold records to white teenagers and black listeners of all ages, and Muddy Waters got young white folkies and older black transplants from the South onto the same page, Cooke appealed to all of the above, and the parents of those white teenagers as well -- yet he never lost his credibility with his core black audience.

In a sense, his appeal anticipated that of the Beatles , in breadth and depth. He was born Sam Cook in Clarksdale, MS, on January 22, 1931, one of eight children of a Baptist minister and his wife. Even as a young boy, he showed an extraordinary voice and frequently sang in the choir in his father's church. During the middle of the decade, the Cook family moved to Chicago's South Side, where the Reverend Charles Cook quickly established himself as a major figure in the religious community. Sam and three of his siblings also formed a group of their own, the Singing Children, in the 1930s. Although his own singing was confined to gospel music, he was aware and appreciative of the popular music of the period, particularly the melodious, harmony-based sounds of the Ink Spots , whose influence could later be heard in songs such as "You Send Me" and "For Sentimental Reasons." As a teenager, he was a member of the Teen Highway QCs, a gospel group that performed in churches and at religious gatherings.

His membership in that group led to his introduction to the Soul Stirrers , one of the top gospel groups in the country, and in 1950 he joined them. If Cooke had never recorded a note of music on his own, he would still be remembered today in gospel circles for his work with the Soul Stirrers . Over the next six years, his role within the group and his prominence within the black community rose to the point where he was already a star, with his own fiercely admiring and devoted audience, through his performances on songs like "Touch the Hem of His Garment," "Nearer to Thee," and "That's Heaven to Me." The group was one of the top acts on Art Rupe 's Specialty Records label, and he might have gone on for years as their most popular singer, but Cooke 's goal was to reach audiences beyond the religious community, and beyond the black population, with his voice.

This was a tall order at the time, as the mere act of recording a popular song could alienate the gospel listenership in an instant; singing for God was regarded in those circles as a gift and a responsibility, and popular music, rock & roll, and R&B were to be abhorred, at least coming from the mouth of a gospel singer; the gap was so great that when a blues singer such as Blind Gary Davis became "sanctified" (that is, found religion) as the Rev. Gary Davis , he could still sing and play his old blues melodies, but had to devise new words, and he never sang the blues words again. He tested the waters of popular music in 1956 with the single "Lovable," produced by Bumps Blackwell and credited under the name Dale Cooke so as not to attract too much attention from his existing audience. It was enough, however, to get Cooke dropped by the Soul Stirrers and their record label, but that freed him to record under his real name.

The result was one of the biggest selling singles of the 1950s, a Cooke original entitled "You Send Me," which sold over two million copies on the tiny Keen Records label and hit number one on both the pop and R&B charts. Although it seems like a tame record today, "You Send Me" was a pioneering soul record in its time, melding elements of R&B, gospel, and pop into a sound that was new and still coalescing at the time. Cooke was with Keen for the next two years, a period in which he delivered up some of the prettiest romantic ballads and teen pop singles of the era, including "For Sentimental Reasons," "Everybody Loves to Cha Cha Cha," "Only Sixteen," and "(What A) Wonderful World." These were extraordinarily beautiful records, and in between the singles came some early album efforts, most notably Tribute to the Lady , his album of songs associated with Billie Holiday .

He was unhappy, however, with both the business arrangement that he had with Keen and the limitations inherent with recording for a small label -- equally to the point, major labels were knocking on Cooke 's door, including Atlantic and RCA Records; Atlantic, which was not yet the international conglomerate that it later became, was the top R&B-oriented label in the country and Cooke almost certainly would have signed there and found a happy home with the company, except that they wanted his publishing, and Cooke had seen the sales figures on his songs, as well as their popularity in cover versions by other artists, and was well aware of the importance of owning his copyrights. Thus, he signed with RCA Records, then one of the three biggest labels in the world (the others being Columbia and Decca), even as he organized his own publishing company, Kags Music, and a record label, SAR, through which he would produce other artists' records -- among those signed to SAR were the Soul Stirrers , Bobby Womack (late of the Valentinos , who were also signed to the label), former Soul Stirrers member Johnny Taylor , Billy Preston , Johnnie Morisette , and the Simms Twins.

Cooke 's RCA sides were a strangely schizophrenic body of work, at least for the first two years. He broke new ground in pop and soul with the single "Chain Gang," a strange mix of sweet melodies and gritty, sweaty sensibilities that also introduced something of a social conscience to his work -- a number two hit on both the pop and R&B charts, it was his biggest hit since "You Send Me" and heralded a bolder phase in his career. Singles like bluesy, romantic "Sad Mood," the idyllic romantic soul of "Cupid," and the straight-ahead dance tune "Twistin' the Night Away" (a pop Top Ten and a number one R&B hit), and "Bring It on Home to Me" all lived up to this promise, and also sold in huge numbers. But the first two albums that RCA had him do, Hits of the Fifties and Cooke's Tour , were among the lamest LPs ever recorded by any soul or R&B singer, comprised of washed-out pop tunes in arrangements that showed almost none of Cooke 's gifts to their advantage.

In 1962, Cooke issued Twistin' the Night Away , a somewhat belated "twist" album that became one of his biggest-selling LPs. He didn't really hit his stride as an LP artist, however, until 1963 with the release of Night Beat , a beautifully self-contained, dark, moody assembly of blues-oriented songs that were among the best and most challenging numbers that Cooke had recorded up to that time. By the time of its release, he was mostly identified through his singles, which were among the best work of their era, and had developed two separate audiences, among white teen and post-teen listeners and black audiences of all ages. It was Cooke 's hope to cross over to the white audience more thoroughly, and open up doors for black performers that, up to that time, had mostly been closed -- he had tried playing the Copa in New York as early as 1957 and failed at the time, mostly owing to his inexperience, but in 1964 he returned to the club in triumph, an event that also yielded one of the most finely recorded live performances of its period.

The problem with the Copa performance was that it didn't really represent what Sam Cooke was about in full -- it was Cooke at his most genial and non-confrontational, doing his safest repertory for a largely middle-aged, middle-class white audience; they responded enthusiastically, to be sure, but only to Cooke 's tamest persona. In mid-1963, however, Cooke had done a show at the Harlem Square Club in Miami that had been recorded. Working in front of a black audience and doing his "real" show, he delivered a sweaty, spellbinding performance built on the same elements found in his singles and his best album tracks, combining achingly beautiful melodies and gritty soul sensibilities. The two live albums sum up the split in Cooke 's career and the sheer range of his talent, the rewards of which he'd finally begun to realize more fully in 1963 and 1964. The drowning death of his infant son in mid-1963 had made it impossible for Cooke to work in the studio until the end of that year.

During that time, however, with Allen Klein now managing his business affairs, Cooke did achieve the financial and creative independence that he'd wanted, including more money than any black performer had ever been advanced before, and the eventual ownership of his recordings beginning in November of 1963 -- he had achieved creative control of his recordings as well, and seemed poised for a breakthrough. It came when he resumed making records, amid the musical ferment of the early '60s. Cooke was keenly aware of the music around him, and was particularly entranced by Bob Dylan 's song "Blowin' in the Wind," its treatment of the plight of black Americans and other politically oppressed minorities, and its success in the hands of Peter, Paul & Mary -- all of these factors convinced him that the time was right for songs that dealt with more than twisting the night away. The result was "A Change Is Gonna Come," perhaps the greatest song to come out of the civil rights struggle, and one that seemed to close and seal the gap between the two directions of Cooke 's career, from gospel to pop. Arguably his greatest and his most important song, it was an artistic apotheosis for Cooke .

During this same period, he had also devised a newer, more advanced dance-oriented soul sound in the form of the song "Shake." These two recordings heralded a new era for Cooke and a new phase of his career, with seemingly the whole world open to him. None of it was to be. Early in the day on December 11, 1964, while in Los Angeles, Cooke became involved in an altercation at a seedy motel, with a woman guest and the night manager, and was shot to death while allegedly trying to attack the manager. The case is still shrouded in doubt and mystery, and was never investigated the way the murder of a star of his stature would be today. Cooke 's death shocked the black community and reverberated far beyond -- his single "Shake" was a posthumous Top Ten hit, as were "A Change Is Gonna Come" and the At the Copa album, released in 1965. Otis Redding , Al Green , and Solomon Burke , among others, picked up key parts of Cooke 's repertory, as did white performers, including the Animals and the Rolling Stones .

Even the Supremes recorded a memorial album of his songs, which is now one of the most sought-after of their original recordings, in either LP or CD form. His reputation survived, at least among those who were smart enough to look behind the songs -- to hear Redding 's performance of "Shake" at the Monterey Pop Festival, for example, and see where it came from. Cooke 's own records were a little tougher to appreciate, however. Listeners who heard those first two, rather poor RCA albums, Hits of the Fifties and Cooke's Tour , could only wonder what the big deal was about, and several of the albums that followed were uneven enough to give potential fans pause. Meanwhile, the contractual situation surrounding Cooke 's recordings greatly complicated the reissue of his work -- Cooke 's business manager, Allen Klein, exerted a good deal of control, especially over the songs cut during that last year of the singer's life. By the 1970s, there were some fairly poor, mostly budget-priced compilations available, consisting of the hits up through early 1963, and for a time there was even a television compilation out there, but that was it.

The movie National Lampoon's Animal House made use of a pair of Cooke songs, "(What A) Wonderful World" and "Twistin' the Night Away," which greatly raised his profile among college students and younger baby-boomers, and Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes made almost a mini-career out of reviving Cooke 's songs (most notably "Having a Party," and even part of "A Change Is Gonna Come") in concert. In 1986, The Man and His Music went some way to correcting the absence of all but the early hits in a career-spanning compilation, but since the mid-'90s, Cooke 's final year's worth of releases have been separated from the earlier RCA and Keen material, and is in the hands of Klein's ABKCO label. Finally, in the late '90s and beyond, RCA, ABKCO, and even Specialty (which still owns Cooke 's gospel sides with the Soul Stirrers ) each issued comprehensive collections of their portions of Cooke 's catalog.

Sam Cooke Sam Cooke Songwriter and performer Sam Cooke was one of the most popular and influential black singers to emerge in the late '50s, successfully to synthesize a blend of gospel music and secular themes and provided the early foundation of soul music. Cooke's pure, clear vocals were widely imitated, and his suave, sophisticated image set the style of soul crooners for the next decade. The Soul Stirrers: Sam Cooke, R.B. Robinson, Paul Foster, S.R. Crain and J.J. Farley Sam Cooke was born in Clarksdale, Mississippi on January 22, 1931, but grew up in Chicago, where his father Charles became a minister in the Church of Christ Holiness Church. By age nine Sam, with his two sisters, formed a gospel trio the Singing Children. As a teenager, he was a member of the nationally famous Highway Q.C.'s (so named because their home base was the Highway Baptist Church) with his younger brother, L.C. Cook. It was here that they sang with all the leading gospel groups of the day when they passed through Chicago. It was also where J.W.

Alexander, tenor and manager of the Pilgrim Travelers, first saw the young Cooke. The Pilgrim Travelers were the second gospel group recorded by Specialty and Alexander soon became the label's chief gospel scout. In 1949 he brought the Soul Stirrers to Specialty. In December 1950 Robert Harris the Soul Stirrers electrifying lead singer quit the group. R.B. Robinson spoke up for the young Cooke and in 1951, at the age of nineteen, he became lead vocalist of the Soul Stirrers, with whom he toured and recorded for six years. The Soul Stirrers were one of the top acts on the all night gospel circuit. The group recorded for Aladdin records in the 1940s and in 1948, they signed with Specialty Records. Specialty, founded by Art Rupe in 1946, in it's first two years issued only up-tempo blues recordings. In 1948, Rupe discovered the wide open field of gospel and concentrated the next few years on gospel and boogie based blues to the exclusion of most other forms of music.

In 1950, Cooke's first session with the group produced "Jesus Gave Me Water." With his soaring vocal leads Cooke brought "style" to the gospel format. Though "Jesus Gave Me Water" betrays the youth and experience of the twenty year old Cooke it showed the potential Alexander saw in him. Cooke soon became a gospel superstar. With the times changing soon Alexander was pressuring Rupe to let Cooke issue records in the popular field. Constraints against gospel performers performing secular material were strong and woven deep into the fabric of the black community. However, the monetary and worldly rewards for singing gospel could never equal those for singing to the masses. Cooke gave in and recorded "Lovable" under the name Dale Cook. Cooke's voice was to unique not to be recognized. Lovable sold 25,000 copies. "Lovable" set off a backlash from his gospel fans and the Soul Stirrers were booed whenever they made a personal appearance. Cooke was released by the Soul Stirrers and replaced by Johnny Taylor. In the next five months there were no more releases by "Dale Cook" or even Sam Cooke.

Blackwell and Cooke Bumps Blackwell, Specialty's chief A&R man asked for his release. With royalties due, Blackwell was offered Cooke's recording contract in lieu of cash. Blackwell accepted and signed Cooke with Keen Records, a new label started by Bob Keane. Cooke sang his new songs with the same conviction he had brought to gospel music. In 1957 he released "You Send Me" which became a number #1 hit and sold 1.7 million copies. "You Send Me" established Cooke as a commercial artist and as an original pop stylist. In February, 1958 Specialty filed a lawsuit claiming that Cooke had actually written and recorded "You Send Me" while still under contract to Specialty, then recorded it for Keen. That being so the rights would have belonged to Specialty. Cooke claimed the song had been written by his brother, who was under no such restraints. The musical pattern in "You Send Me" was the basis for most of Cooke's first year with Keen. They were love songs, with pretty arrangements and sung with a rolling, medium tempo.

In early 1959, Cooke released "Everyone Like To Cha Cha Cha" (#31) which represented a change in dance style before he returned to the two step with "Only Sixteen" (#28). In 1959 Cooke left Keen over a royalty dispute. In1960 he signed with RCA and began writing blues, gospel inflected songs. After he joined RCA Victor, Keen issued his second biggest hit up to that time, the million selling "Wonderful World." Cooke's first release on RCA barely made the middle of the pop charts. It did a little better R&B, but not much. To add insult to injury, A Cooke written song "Nobody Loves Me Like You" became a hit for the Flamingos later in the spring. Even without hits, Cooke continued to be a big hit on the one nighter and R&B circuit. In March, he toured the Caribbean to sold out houses. On September 6, Cooke and his wife became parents of a seven pound two once baby girl they named Tracy. A week earlier RCA released "Chain Gang" since signing with RCA. It peaked at number two on both the Pop and R&B charts and became his fourth gold record.

In the next ten months, he released four records which included "Cupid." They all should have been best sellers, but only sold in medium quantities., Why they failed to sell is one of those quirks that drive record executives mad. It wasn't until "Twistin' the Night Away" in January, 1962 that Cooke got back on track to stay. It was a number one R*B and Top Ten pop hit. Next came "Having' a Party' which was a squel to "Twistin' the Night Away." Now Cooke teamed up with Lou Rawls to sing "Bring It on Back To Me," an old gospel song. Lisa Boyer The crime scene Hacienda Motel With a live LP in the Top 30, Cooke was in L.A. partying when he met 22 year old Elisa Boyer at a club on December 11, 1964. They drove to South Central where they registered at the Hacienda Motel as Mr.and Mrs. Sam Cooke. Later Boyer left the room with most of Cooke's clothing. Cooke wearing one shoe and a jacket broke into the motel's office where he thought Boyer was hiding.

There he found Bertha Franklin the motel's manager who shoot him three times with a .22. killing Cooke on December 11, 1964. The manager of the motel, Bertha Franklin claimed Cooke had tried to rape a twenty one year old woman Elisa Boyer and then turned on her. The coroner's office ruled the death as justifiable homicide. Over thirty five years later there remain questions about the circumstances of Cooke's death and there has been talk about reopening the investigation. J.W. Alexander, Lou Adler, Sam Cooke and Zelda Samuels Two months after his death his song "Shake" peaked at #7 on the pop charts. Cooke's songs have been covered by both rock and soul singers. "A Change Is Gonna Come" was released in 1965 after his death and charted at #31. It represented a return to Cooke's roots, placing him back in the spiritual setting from which he had first emerged just nine years before. Cooke was a ground breaking black music capitalist. He owned his own record label (SAR/Derby) , music publishing company (Kags Music) , and management firm with offices in the Warner Brothers Building in Hollywood..

His influences can be heard in the work of artists as varied as Michael Jackson and the Heptones, but is most profoundly felt in the singing of Otis Redding, Rod Stewart, and Al Green. The 1994 compilation Sam Cooke's SAR Records Story 1959-1964 suggests that his impact as a producer, though less widely recognized, was no less important. Gravestone at Forest Lawn Cemetery Glendale, California Sam Cooke was a true superstar in his lifetime. After his death, his legend became even larger. His influence can be heard in the precise phrasing of Smokey Robinson, in the conscientious songwriting of Marvin Gaye, in the raw emotion of Lou Rawls and in Aretha Franklin's controlled passion.

Sam Cooke was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986 Number 1 With A Bullet: Sam Cooke’s “You Send Me” « Fresh 102.7 Number 1 With A Bullet: Sam Cooke’s “You Send Me” January 2, 2012 12:01 AM Filed Under: Number 1 with a Bullet , You Send Me Sam Cooke One of the most influential singers in popular music, [lastfm link_type=”artist_info”]Sam Cooke[/lastfm] scored his first Number 1 with his celebrated single, “You Send Me.” Born in 1931, the son of a Baptist minister, Cooke found fame at the age of 19, when he replaced R.H. Harris as the lead singer of the gospel group, the [lastfm link_type=”artist_info”]Soul Stirrers[/lastfm]. Approached by Specialty Records A&R man “Bumps” Blackwell in 1956, Cooke recorded his first secular single as “Dale Cooke,” so as not to offend his gospel audience.

His voice couldn’t be hidden, though; once his partners got wind of his “other life,” he was fired from the Soul Stirrers and became a full-time pop singer. When Specialty refused to release any more singles, Cooke signed with Keen Records, where he recorded until 1960, when RCA bought his contract for an astronomical $100,000 (roughly $700,000 in 2011 dollars). “You Send Me” was Cooke’s very first single for Keen, his very first hit and his only Number 1, where it sat for two weeks in December 1957. His companions in the Top 5? [lastfm link_type=”artist_info”]Elvis[/lastfm], the [lastfm link_type=”artist_info”]Everly Brothers[/lastfm], [lastfm link_type=”artist_info”]Bill Justis[/lastfm] and the Rays, with their hit, “Silhouettes.” From American Bandstand: Sam Cooke | Rolling Stone artists > S > Sam Cooke > Bio Sam Cooke Bio In the Fifites and Sixties, Sam Cooke helped invent soul music by merging gospel sounds with secular themes.

Cooke's pure, elegant crooning was widely imitated, and both his voice and his suave, sophisticated image influenced generations of soul men. One of eight sons of a Baptist minister, Cooke was born on January 22, 1931, in Clarkesdale, Mississippi, and grew up in Chicago. As a teenager, he became lead vocalist of the Soul Stirrers (which later included Johnnie Taylor), with whom he toured and recorded for nearly six years. By 1951 Cooke was a top gospel artist, already boasting his now-famous phrasing and urban enunciation. Hoping not to offend his gospel fans, Cooke released his pop debut, "Lovable" (1956), as Dale Cooke, but Specialty Records dropped him for deserting the Soul Stirrers. He released his own "You Send Me" the following year, and the 1.7-million-selling Number One song was the first of many hits. In the next two years his several hits — "Only Sixteen" (Number 28, 1959), "Everybody Likes to Cha Cha" (Number 31, 1959) — concentrated on light ballads and novelty items.

He signed to RCA in 1960 and began writing bluesier, gospel-inflected tunes. Beginning with his reworking of "Chain Gang" (Number Two) in August 1960, Cooke was a mainstay in the Top 40 through 1965, with "Wonderful World" (Number 12, 1960), "Sad Mood" (Number 29, 1961), "Twistin' the Night Away" (Number Nine, 1962), "Bring It On Home to Me" (Number 13, 1962), "Another Saturday Night" (Number 10, 1963), and "Shake" (Number Seven, 1965). The nature of Cooke's death on December 11, 1964, tarnished his image. Bertha Franklin, the manager of the Hacienda motel in L.A., claimed she shot and killed the singer in self-defense after he'd tried to rape a 22-year-old woman and then turned on Franklin. The coroner ruled it a justifiable homicide. There still remain questions about the circumstances surrounding Cooke's demise.

Two months after his death, "Shake" peaked at Number Seven on the singles chart. The posthumously released "A Change Is Gonna Come," which Cooke wrote after hearing Bob Dylan's "Blowin' in the Wind," hit Number 31 in 1965. It represented a return to Cooke's roots, placing him back in the spiritual setting from which he had first emerged just nine years earlier. The song has a long legacy in social movements; it was played in Spike Lee's 1992 biopic Malcolm X and quoted by President Barack Obama in his 2008 victory speech. Cooke also was a groundbreaking independent black-music capitalist. He owned his own record label (Sar/Derby), music publishing concern (Kags Music), and management firm. His hits have been covered widely by soul and rock singers — "Shake," for instance, has been interpreted by Otis Redding and Rod Stewart — and his influence can be heard in the music of artists as varied as Michael Jackson, Al Green and the Heptones. Rappers including the Roots, Nas and the late Tupac Shakur also have invoked Cooke's name in their songs.

Cooke was one of the first inductees into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986; three years later the Soul Stirrers entered separately. Portions of this biography appeared in The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll (Simon & Schuster, 2001). Mark Kemp contributed to this article. Sam Cooke, 1931-1964: The singer was one of the biggest stars in the music industry during the 1950s and 60s Sam Cooke, 1931-1964: The singer was one of the biggest stars in the music industry during the 1950s and 60s June 09, 2007 Print His smooth voice and musical style were popular with both blacks and whites. Transcript of radio broadcast: VOICE ONE: I'm Shirley Griffith. VOICE TWO: And I'm Ray Freeman with the VOA Special English program, People in America. Every week we tell about someone important in the history of the United States. This week we tell about black singer and songwriter, Sam Cooke.

(MUSIC: "You Send Me") VOICE ONE: It has been years since that song was a hit. Yet it is still popular today. The song is called "You Send Me. " It was written and sung by a young singer and songwriter, Sam Cooke. During the late nineteen fifties and early sixties, Sam Cooke was one of the biggest stars in the music industry. His smooth voice and musical style were popular with both blacks and whites. Although Sam Cooke died years ago, his influence still is present in today's music. VOICE TWO: Sam Cooke was born in Clarksdale, Mississippi, in nineteen thirty-one. He grew up in Chicago, Illinois. His father was a minister in a Baptist church. Sam started singing religious music when he was only fifteen years old. When he was nineteen, he became the lead singer of a famous gospel singing group called the Soul Stirrers. In nineteen fifty, he began writing and recording for the Soul Stirrers. During his six years with the group, Cooke brought his own kind of expression to gospel music. He became gospel music's biggest star. His good looks and singing abilities made him very popular among women, both young and old.

Here is Sam Cooke with the Soul Stirrers singing "Touch the Hem of His Garment". (MUSIC) VOICE ONE: Although Sam Cooke was a star with the Soul Stirrers, he wanted to sing other kinds of music. So, he decided to sing popular music instead. Cooke's decision to "cross over" to pop music shocked many blacks. That was because making such a change was not as easy then as it is today. Racial tensions were high between blacks and whites in the nineteen fifties. And gospel music was popular among black people. It was considered an important part of black culture. The company that recorded the Soul Stirrers' records urged him not to start singing pop music. They thought it would offend the group's fans. VOICE TWO: Cooke, however, wanted to sing to all groups of people. He wanted to express his racial identity without offending whites. At that time, most records by black artists were not played on radio stations that had white listeners. So, he left the gospel music world where he was extremely popular with blacks. But the move was not a mistake. He soon became a big star singing pop music.

Sam Cooke's first pop record was released by a small company, Keen, in nineteen fifty-seven. It was "You Send Me. " It was a huge success. It sold one million seven hundred thousand copies in the first year alone. It is one of his most memorable recordings. Here is the first version he recorded of that song. It was made to show Cooke's ability to sing. (MUSIC) VOICE ONE: Sam Cooke had a voice that was unlike any the public had ever heard. His voice was soft, yet intense. He made singing seem effortless. Cooke was also a wise businessman. In nineteen fifty-nine, he became the first black artist to establish his own record company, SAR Records. He wrote most of his own material. And, he owned the rights to his songs through his music publishing company, Kags Music. Very few blacks at that time were able to control their musical profession in such a way. And, without such business control, they lost money. Here is another hit by Sam Cooke, when he was with the Keen record company, called "Wonderful World. " (MUSIC) VOICE TWO: In nineteen sixty, Sam Cooke signed an agreement with a major record company, RCA.

Such a move is common today. But, a move from an independent black-owned record company to a major record company was something few black artists were able to do then. Cooke had a number of big hits at RCA. In this song, Sam Cooke uses a "call and answer" form of musical expression that started in the black church. The song is called "Bring it on Home to Me. " (MUSIC) In nineteen sixty-two, Sam Cooke recorded a song for RCA about a popular new dance step, the Twist. The song is called "Twistin' the Night Away. " (MUSIC) VOICE ONE: In December nineteen sixty-four, Sam Cooke's life was suddenly cut short. He was shot and killed at a hotel during a visit to Los Angeles. He was thirty-three years old. His death shocked his fans. Thousands of people gathered at his funeral. Two of Cooke's last songs were released after he died. One of the songs is called "A Change is Gonna Come. " It is a powerful song that combines gospel and pop music. The song is like many of Sam Cooke's that made him so popular as a singer and songwriter. It is about never losing hope.

(MUSIC) VOICE TWO: This Special English program was written by Cynthia Kirk. It was produced by Lawan Davis. I'm Ray Freeman. VOICE ONE: And I'm Shirley Griffith. Join us again next week for another people in American program on the Voice of America. Sam Cooke - Listen to Free Music by Sam Cooke on Pandora Internet Radio more Sam Cooke Sam Cooke was the most important soul singer in history -- he was also the inventor of soul music, and its most popular and beloved performer in both the black and white communities. Equally important, he was among the first modern black performers and composers to attend to the business side of the music business, and founded both a record label and a publishing company as an extension of his careers as a singer and composer.

Yet, those business interests didn't prevent him from being engaged in topical issues, including the struggle over civil rights, the pitch and intensity of which followed an arc that paralleled Cooke's emergence as a star -- his own career bridged gaps between black and white audiences that few had tried to surmount, much less succeeded at doing, and also between generations; where Chuck Berry or Little Richard brought black and white teenagers together, James Brown sold records to white teenagers and black listeners of all ages, and Muddy Waters got young white folkies and older black transplants from the South onto the same page, Cooke appealed to all of the above, and the parents of those white teenagers as well -- yet he never lost his credibility with his core black audience. In a sense, his appeal anticipated that of the Beatles , in breadth and depth. He was born Sam Cook in Clarksdale, MS, on January 22, 1931, one of eight children of a Baptist minister and his wife. Even as a young boy, he showed an extraordinary voice and frequently sang in the choir in his father's church.

During the middle of the decade, the Cook family moved to Chicago's South Side, where the Reverend Charles Cook quickly established himself as a major figure in the religious community. Sam and three of his siblings also formed a group of their own, the Singing Children, in the 1930s. Although his own singing was confined to gospel music, he was aware and appreciative of the popular music of the period, particularly the melodious, harmony-based sounds of the Ink Spots , whose influence could later be heard in songs such as "You Send Me" and "For Sentimental Reasons." As a teenager, he was a member of the Teen Highway QCs, a gospel group that performed in churches and at religious gatherings. His membership in that group led to his introduction to the Soul Stirrers , one of the top gospel groups in the country, and in 1950 he joined them. If Cooke had never recorded a note of music on his own, he would still be remembered today in gospel circles for his work with the Soul Stirrers .

Over the next six years, his role within the group and his prominence within the black community rose to the point where he was already a star, with his own fiercely admiring and devoted audience, through his performances on songs like "Touch the Hem of His Garment," "Nearer to Thee," and "That's Heaven to Me." The group was one of the top acts on Art Rupe's Specialty Records label, and he might have gone on for years as their most popular singer, but Cooke's goal was to reach audiences beyond the religious community, and beyond the black population, with his voice. This was a tall order at the time, as the mere act of recording a popular song could alienate the gospel listenership in an instant; singing for God was regarded in those circles as a gift and a responsibility, and popular music, rock & roll, and R&B were to be abhorred, at least coming from the mouth of a gospel singer; the gap was so great that when a blues singer such as Blind Gary Davis became "sanctified" (that is, found religion) as the Rev.

Gary Davis , he could still sing and play his old blues melodies, but had to devise new words, and he never sang the blues words again. He tested the waters of popular music in 1956 with the single "Lovable," produced by Bumps Blackwell and credited under the name Dale Cooke so as not to attract too much attention from his existing audience. It was enough, however, to get Cooke dropped by the Soul Stirrers and their record label, but that freed him to record under his real name. The result was one of the biggest selling singles of the 1950s, a Cooke original entitled "You Send Me," which sold over two million copies on the tiny Keen Records label and hit number one on both the pop and R&B charts. Although it seems like a tame record today, "You Send Me" was a pioneering soul record in its time, melding elements of R&B, gospel, and pop into a sound that was new and still coalescing at the time.

Cooke was with Keen for the next two years, a period in which he delivered up some of the prettiest romantic ballads and teen pop singles of the era, including "For Sentimental Reasons," "Everybody Loves to Cha Cha Cha," "Only Sixteen," and "(What A) Wonderful World." These were extraordinarily beautiful records, and in between the singles came some early album efforts, most notably Tribute to the Lady, his album of songs associated with Billie Holiday . He was unhappy, however, with both the business arrangement that he had with Keen and the limitations inherent with recording for a small label -- equally to the point, major labels were knocking on Cooke's door, including Atlantic and RCA Records; Atlantic, which was not yet the international conglomerate that it later became, was the top R&B-oriented label in the country and Cooke almost certainly would have signed there and found a happy home with the company, except that they wanted his publishing, and Cooke had seen the sales figures on his songs, as well as their popularity in cover versions by other artists, and was well aware of the importance of owning his copyrights.

Thus, he signed with RCA Records, then one of the three biggest labels in the world (the others being Columbia and Decca), even as he organized his own publishing company, Kags Music, and a record label, SAR, through which he would produce other artists' records -- among those signed to SAR were the Soul Stirrers , Bobby Womack (late of the Valentinos , who were also signed to the label), former Soul Stirrers member Johnny Taylor , Billy Preston , Johnnie Morisette , and the Simms Twins. Cooke's RCA sides were a strangely schizophrenic body of work, at least for the first two years. He broke new ground in pop and soul with the single "Chain Gang," a strange mix of sweet melodies and gritty, sweaty sensibilities that also introduced something of a social conscience to his work -- a number two hit on both the pop and R&B charts, it was his biggest hit since "You Send Me" and heralded a bolder phase in his career.

Singles like bluesy, romantic "Sad Mood," the idyllic romantic soul of "Cupid," and the straight-ahead dance tune "Twistin' the Night Away" (a pop Top Ten and a number one R&B hit), and "Bring It on Home to Me" all lived up to this promise, and also sold in huge numbers. But the first two albums that RCA had him do, Hits of the Fifties and Cooke's Tour, were among the lamest LPs ever recorded by any soul or R&B singer, comprised of washed-out pop tunes in arrangements that showed almost none of Cooke's gifts to their advantage. In 1962, Cooke issued Twistin' the Night Away, a somewhat belated "twist" album that became one of his biggest-selling LPs. He didn't really hit his stride as an LP artist, however, until 1963 with the release of Night Beat, a beautifully self-contained, dark, moody assembly of blues-oriented songs that were among the best and most challenging numbers that Cooke had recorded up to that time.

By the time of its release, he was mostly identified through his singles, which were among the best work of their era, and had developed two separate audiences, among white teen and post-teen listeners and black audiences of all ages. It was Cooke's hope to cross over to the white audience more thoroughly, and open up doors for black performers that, up to that time, had mostly been closed -- he had tried playing the Copa in New York as early as 1957 and failed at the time, mostly owing to his inexperience, but in 1964 he returned to the club in triumph, an event that also yielded one of the most finely recorded live performances of its period. The problem with the Copa performance was that it didn't really represent what Sam Cooke was about in full -- it was Cooke at his most genial and non-confrontational, doing his safest repertory for a largely middle-aged, middle-class white audience; they responded enthusiastically, to be sure, but only to Cooke's tamest persona. In mid-1963, however, Cooke had done a show at the Harlem Square Club in Miami that had been recorded.

Working in front of a black audience and doing his "real" show, he delivered a sweaty, spellbinding performance built on the same elements found in his singles and his best album tracks, combining achingly beautiful melodies and gritty soul sensibilities. The two live albums sum up the split in Cooke's career and the sheer range of his talent, the rewards of which he'd finally begun to realize more fully in 1963 and 1964. The drowning death of his infant son in mid-1963 had made it impossible for Cooke to work in the studio until the end of that year. During that time, however, with Allen Klein now managing his business affairs, Cooke did achieve the financial and creative independence that he'd wanted, including more money than any black performer had ever been advanced before, and the eventual ownership of his recordings beginning in November of 1963 -- he had achieved creative control of his recordings as well, and seemed poised for a breakthrough. It came when he resumed making records, amid the musical ferment of the early '60s.

Cooke was keenly aware of the music around him, and was particularly entranced by Bob Dylan 's song "Blowin' in the Wind," its treatment of the plight of black Americans and other politically oppressed minorities, and its success in the hands of Peter, Paul & Mary -- all of these factors convinced him that the time was right for songs that dealt with more than twisting the night away. The result was "A Change Is Gonna Come," perhaps the greatest song to come out of the civil rights struggle, and one that seemed to close and seal the gap between the two directions of Cooke's career, from gospel to pop. Arguably his greatest and his most important song, it was an artistic apotheosis for Cooke. During this same period, he had also devised a newer, more advanced dance-oriented soul sound in the form of the song "Shake." These two recordings heralded a new era for Cooke and a new phase of his career, with seemingly the whole world open to him. None of it was to be.

Early in the day on December 11, 1964, while in Los Angeles, Cooke became involved in an altercation at a seedy motel, with a woman guest and the night manager, and was shot to death while allegedly trying to attack the manager. The case is still shrouded in doubt and mystery, and was never investigated the way the murder of a star of his stature would be today. Cooke's death shocked the black community and reverberated far beyond -- his single "Shake" was a posthumous Top Ten hit, as were "A Change Is Gonna Come" and the At the Copa album, released in 1965. Otis Redding , Al Green , and Solomon Burke , among others, picked up key parts of Cooke's repertory, as did white performers, including the Animals and the Rolling Stones . Even the Supremes recorded a memorial album of his songs, which is now one of the most sought-after of their original recordings, in either LP or CD form.

His reputation survived, at least among those who were smart enough to look behind the songs -- to hear Redding 's performance of "Shake" at the Monterey Pop Festival, for example, and see where it came from. Cooke's own records were a little tougher to appreciate, however. Listeners who heard those first two, rather poor RCA albums, Hits of the Fifties and Cooke's Tour, could only wonder what the big deal was about, and several of the albums that followed were uneven enough to give potential fans pause. Meanwhile, the contractual situation surrounding Cooke's recordings greatly complicated the reissue of his work -- Cooke's business manager, Allen Klein, exerted a good deal of control, especially over the songs cut during that last year of the singer's life. By the 1970s, there were some fairly poor, mostly budget-priced compilations available, consisting of the hits up through early 1963, and for a time there was even a television compilation out there, but that was it.

The movie National Lampoon's Animal House made use of a pair of Cooke songs, "(What A) Wonderful World" and "Twistin' the Night Away," which greatly raised his profile among college students and younger baby-boomers, and Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes made almost a mini-career out of reviving Cooke's songs (most notably "Having a Party," and even part of "A Change Is Gonna Come") in concert. In 1986, The Man and His Music went some way to correcting the absence of all but the early hits in a career-spanning compilation, but since the mid-'90s, Cooke's final year's worth of releases have been separated from the earlier RCA and Keen material, and is in the hands of Klein's ABKCO label. Finally, in the late '90s and beyond, RCA, ABKCO, and even Specialty (which still owns Cooke's gospel sides with the Soul Stirrers ) each issued comprehensive collections of their portions of Cooke's catalog.

~ Bruce Eder Number 1 With A Bullet: Sam Cooke’s “You Send Me” « WCBS-FM 101.1 Number 1 With A Bullet: Sam Cooke’s “You Send Me” January 2, 2012 1:00 PM Filed Under: Number 1 with a Bullet , You Send Me One of the many Sam Cooke compilations with "You Send Me" (from the author's collection) One of the most influential singers in popular music, [lastfm link_type=”artist_info”]Sam Cooke[/lastfm] scored his first Number 1 with his celebrated single, “You Send Me.” Born in 1931, the son of a Baptist minister, Cooke found fame at the age of 19, when he replaced R.H. Harris as the lead singer of the gospel group, the [lastfm link_type=”artist_info”]Soul Stirrers[/lastfm]. Approached by Specialty Records A&R man “Bumps” Blackwell in 1956, Cooke recorded his first secular single as “Dale Cooke,” so as not to offend his gospel audience.

His voice couldn’t be hidden, though; once his partners got wind of his “other life,” he was fired from the Soul Stirrers and became a full-time pop singer. When Specialty refused to release any more singles, Cooke signed with Keen Records, where he recorded until 1960, when RCA bought his contract for an astronomical $100,000 (roughly $700,000 in 2011 dollars). “You Send Me” was Cooke’s very first single for Keen, his very first hit and his only Number 1, where it sat for two weeks in December 1957. His companions in the Top 5?

[lastfm link_type=”artist_info”]Elvis[/lastfm], the [lastfm link_type=”artist_info”]Everly Brothers[/lastfm], [lastfm link_type=”artist_info”]Bill Justis[/lastfm] and the Rays, with their hit, “Silhouettes.” From American Bandstand: You send me: the life and times of Sam Cooke - Daniel Wolff - Google Books You send me: the life and times of Sam Cooke 0 Reviews In late 1957, when "You Send Me" burst upon the pop scene and shot to number one, it was seen as a phenomenal debut by a young unknown. But in African-American communities across the nation, Sam Cooke was already one of gospel music's most charismatic stars - and his crossover into rock 'n' roll heralded the beginning of a new era. The remarkable string of hits that followed - "Only Sixteen," "Chain Gang," "Cupid," "Twistin' the Night Away," "Bring It on Home to Me," "Havin' a Party," "Shake" - earned Cooke the title of The Man Who Invented Soul Music.

At the same time, Cooke became one of the music business's first African-American entrepreneurs, fighting for the publishing rights to his songs and founding his own record label. Enmeshed in the beginnings of the civil rights movement, he crisscrossed the country insisting that rock 'n' roll be fully integrated. And he encouraged younger singers like Aretha Franklin and Smokey Robinson to follow his crossover example. Despite a near-fatal car accident and the tragic death of his infant son, Sam Cooke managed to forge a career that artists such as Rod Stewart, Keith Richards, and Aaron Neville still revere. Indeed, Sam Cooke was one of the first names inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Just as Cooke achieved a new level of success with sold-out appearances at New York's Copacabana, his life came to a sudden end: He was discovered half-naked in a seedy, south Los Angeles motel with a bullet through his heart. His was a murder that is still viewed by many as inexplicable - and unsolved.

From inside the book What people are saying - Write a review You send me: the life of Sam Cooke User Review - Not Available - Book Verdict When Sam Cooke left the Soul Stirrers in 1957 to cross over into popular music, the gospel scene lost one of its biggest stars. The rest of the world gained the distinctive voice of the first ... Read full review Contents No preview available - 1996 Common terms and phrases Ain't Alex Alexander Allen Klein Angeles Sentinel Art Rupe asked baby band Barbara Battiste Bertha Franklin Billboard blues Bobby brother Bumps called Charles charts Chicago Defender church Cliff White Cooke's Copa crowd Crume dance friends girl gospel guitar Hugo and Luigi Ibid J. W. Alexander Jess Rand Jesse Belvin Jesus Johnnie Morisette Johnny Taylor Keen kids knew label Lisa Boyer Little Richard looked Lou Adler Lou Rawls Love Mel Carter motel Negro night nightclub played quartet R. H. Harris recalls record remembers Rene Hall Reverend Cook rock & roll S. R.

Crain Sam's sang says Schmitt Send session shouting Siamas singer singing Sister Flute song Soul Stirrers sound Spec Specialty files studio teenagers thing told tour trying tune Twistin voice wanted week Womack York young Zelda About the author (1995) Daniel Wolff is the author of You Send Me: The Life and Times of Sam Cooke, which won the Ralph J. Gleason Award for best music book of 1995, and he was nominated for a Grammy for his liner notes for a recent Sam Cooke box set. His journalism has appeared in Vogue, the Nation, and Doubletake, and his poetry in the Paris Review, the Partisan Review, and the Threepenny Review. Bibliographic information

Question: What was Sam Cooke's only American Number 1
Answer: You Send Me